Advice for Backstabbin' Sword Swingin' Party

Hey all, long time IE games player here, primarily BG series. I just got ID:EE and I have a few specific ideas for what I want out of my party, but I was hoping to get some advice for implementing those ideas optimally. I'll list my broad "wants" below, and then an initial take on the party with a few questions included.

-I want 2 backstabbers. One as some sort of thief and the other as a stalker. I look forward to getting my jollies off with the double backstab, even if it is frivolous and slows down my playthrough. -I want an attacks oriented party, leaning towards attacking over casting and melee over ranged during combat.-However, I also like the idea of many multifaceted characters. Chars as possible who can melee, but also ranged and who maybe have some abilities or spells on top. -I like the idea of staggered armor proficiency for the party, so that someone is using leathers, another for chain and scale, a wiz for robes, and then a few plate. Not sure if the drops in the game support this approach, but I'd like to take advantage of as much equipment as possible.-Again, because I like to use a variety of gear, I don't at all mind missing out on GM proficiency by using non-fighters or multi over dual classing. That just lets me spread the pips around more. I've done Zerker into cleric and Kensage in BG, so I've been there done that.-I'm very familiar with the engine, and don't mind a challenge, so the premises I laid out above might seem flawed from the start but I am ok with that.

Paladin/Undead Hunter: Never used this kit before, I need a plate using front line guy, Pally gets some unique equipment (although I have only read about the sword thus far) and some abilities/spells.

Bard (leaning skald?): Bard gets some unique gear and convos in the game based on what I have read, so I am happy to give him a try. I don't like the idea of a character who just stands there with the song ability active (boring?), but if I have 4 other guys + summons fighting it should be fine. I am leaning towards skald, which seems very thematic and his 1 song is pretty much the one I am looking for anyway. However I could do Blade if the spins are more fun or vanilla bard if the song variety is more fun.

Stalker (dual into clerric?): The game seems thematically built for rangers, and like I said I'm going for 2 sneak attackers. Do I go straight stalker or go for the lvl 9 stalker into cleric? I get that the dual will leave him gimped for 450K xp, but I would consider swallowing that since the ranger is not a mandatory skillset for the party. On the other hand, if that 450k is like 1/3 the game then forget it. Maybe I should consider ranger/cleric here and give up on this backstab idea?

Thief Fighter (Assassin Dual, or Multi): I have two options here. Go assassin 9, dumping points into locks and traps, then dual out into fighter. OR just go multi fighter/thief.

Barb 7 dual to druid: I have one of the mods that lets me dual out of barb as if it was fighter. This seems thematic, gets good juice out of the dual without gimping me for too long, and I use a class I never have before and have a guy wearing scale. Alternatively, I could just go Fighter/druid.

Gnome illusionist/fighter: What's not to love here? I like that he can fight too w/ buffs.

As you can see, I have a lot of questions on the individual class configurations within these slots. One thing I notice is that I'm gonna end up pretty light on divine casting, and possibly without a cleric. Is that too big of a mistake? Thanks for reading and thanks for any advice!

They could pretty much all melee decently (yes, even the Bard) and fire at range if the need was there. Hell, I didn't even buff my characters against Yxonomei, Belhifet, Icasaracht or anything in Trials of the Luremaster.

The weapons and armor was diverse enough to kill'em off without much hassle. I didn't feel like I was lacking anything in the spell departement as well. Divine and arcane was plentiful. Summons were mandatory through the first 2/3 of my game, then I focused on damage spells and buffs.

I piled up any armor gear I found on my first two characters, and I was pretty much set.

If your focused on summons and The rest of your party. A skald might be way to go to get the extra buff. But if you want to try and keep all your characters engaged as much as possible you might want to consider blade instead because of the spins and such. From the sound of not wanting to leave one standing that might lean you towards blade as well.